Web tool allows comments on any website

Pushnote, a new web browser plug-in, allows web users to leave comments and ratings on any website, including those run by pharma companies

Pushnote, a new web browser plug-in, allows web users to leave comments and ratings on any website, including those run by pharmaceutical companies and other large corporations.

Unlike Google SideWiki, which allowed website owners to 'claim' their site and have ownership of the top comment, Pushnote is only moderated by the audience, and comments cannot be reordered or removed by the website owner.

Pushnote also allows users to connect with their friends via their Facebook accounts and will notify users when any of their contacts leave a comment online.

John Leaver, Pushnote CEO, said: "Pushnote makes surfing more fun, informed and up-to-date by tapping the biggest resource on the net - the audience. We're excited to see what happens now that comments are completely unleashed."

Alex Butler, digital strategy and social media manager, Janssen, shared his views on Pushnote with PMLiVE: "The idea of socialising web browsing is obviously not new and Pushnote is similar in concept to Google's Sidewiki. Google's offering was itself the subject of much discussion and was forecast as a game changer for pharma participation on the web, especially set in the context of the current regulatory mindset. However, it never really left a scratch on pharma digital assets and I have not heard it discussed for many months."

Butler went on to say that if any application that has the potential to allow the "current command and control attitude of most pharmaceutical companies with regard to content ownership" to be challenged is positive.

"The true hot topic of 2011 is set to be content curation and the ideological and legal arguments surrounding bespoke delivery through applications... It will be interesting to see if Pushnote's capacity to sync with Facebook and the backing of Stephen Fry overcome the slight lack of intimacy and the current lack of a network effect. However, I am not sure that web based comments really answer a need for people anymore," Butler concluded.

Pushnote is backed by Stephen Fry who joined the company in June. At the time of writing, Stephen Fry was yet to post a tweet about Pushnote.